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Friday, February 23, 2007

For Clinton, New Wealth In Speeches - washingtonpost.com: "Last year, one of his most lucrative since he left the presidency, Clinton earned $9 million to $10 million on the lecture circuit. He averaged almost a speech a day -- 352 for the year -- but only about 20 percent were for personal income. The others were given for no fee or for donations to the William J. Clinton Foundation, the nonprofit group he founded to pursue causes such as the fight against AIDS."

The new regional organization will be called the United Way of Western Connecticut, said June Renzulli, president and chief executive officer of the United Way of Northern Fairfield County in Danbury. That chapter will merge with the United Way of Stamford and the Housatonic/Shepaug United Way in New Milford by July, she said."

GQ Hopes to Make the ‘G’ Stand for Generosity - New York Times: "To help commemorate its 50th anniversary this year, GQ magazine is starting a charitable project called the Gentlemen’s Fund. The initiative is centered on a Web site that is planned to go live today, thegentlemensfund.com. It will also involve the GQ Mobile text-messaging service and events at stores like Saks Fifth Avenue."

Thursday, February 22, 2007

press-citizen.com | Local News: "WASHINGTON -- Some small liberal arts colleges such as Cornell College are better than state universities like the University of Iowa in getting a higher percentage of alumni to give.

Still, UI raised $102 million last year, more than any other school in the state, a survey released Wednesday shows.

Alumni who attended smaller, private colleges where kinship with classmates and campus lingers long after graduation and philanthropy is a century-old tradition, are generally more willing to give to their alma maters than those at Ivy League schools and large state universities, the survey found."

The Resource Alliance (formerly known as The International Fund Raising Group): "ecently, I was lucky enough to be asked to give a class on trends in fundraising to a class of fresh-faced university students in Paris. Standing there before rows of tiered benches full of 20 year olds, talking cycles, pyramids and other such jargon, got me thinking. In France, as in much of southern and eastern Europe, five years ago fundraising was an unknown quantity to all except a handful of professionals. Now it was being taught in university. What a remarkable transition"

In Part I of our article we gave you some tools to assess your involvement on a junior board. If you’ve made the decision to serve, here are some best practices to help you make the most of your experience:

* Remember who you are serving. The junior board exists to complement and support a nonprofit organization that is addressing some issue or injustice. Keep in mind that you are part of a bigger effort to help society in some way. This is an honor!"

What some might call binge eating, others say is training for the next Burrito Mile — a growing tradition among Montgomery County high school runners that challenges participants in a race to eat a burrito and then immediately run a mile.

But while students say the race is simply a fun competition for guts and glory, some parents say the event is unhealthy and even dangerous."

Corporate Support for the Arts - New York Times: "When the Altria Group announced in the fall that it was planning to spin off its Kraft Foods division, Wall Street cheered. But among cultural institutions, the response was considerably less upbeat: as part of the restructuring, Altria, formerly Philip Morris, is phasing out its significant support for the arts, which has funneled $210 million to cultural groups over the last four decades."

Jonathan Alter claims to have seen the future of American philanthropy, and DonorsChoose is it. In his article for Slate, Alter ruminates on the possibilities of creating similar web-based marketplaces for all kinds of social goods - malarial bed nets, vaccines, art purchases for museums, and cancer research trials."

An idealistic young staff, low wages, a trial-by-fire work environment: welcome to the nonprofit sector. Working at one of Boston’s many nonprofits can be a stressful affair for young professionals entering the field. And sometimes the burnout comes quick. The Young Nonprofit Professionals Network, a national organization with about 7,500 members, is starting a local chapter for the area’s young and altruistic. “We’re addressing burnout,” said Liza Davies, co-chairwoman of YNPN and director of corporate and foundation relations for Crittenton Women’s Union."

'That group of grass-roots donors is making a big difference in the community,' he said. 'They might not be itemizing, for whatever reason that might be . . . Being able to take an itemized deduction is a very low priority in why people give.'"

Officials tap into wealthy alumni - News: "Wealthy alumni are responsible for much of the $100 million student scholarship milestone reached last week by university fundraisers, officials said, and the group will likely continue to play a key role in reaching the recently announced $1 billion fundraising goal.

After years of fundraising campaigns proved to be largely sluggish affairs weighted down by a spotty alumni network, it appears officials have finally broken the ice in a pool of university graduates and 'friends' possessing a highly attractive feature: fat bank accounts. And the way they got there was a surprisingly grassroots method."

Tallahassee Democrat - www.tallahassee.com - Tallahassee, FL.: "The annual Dance Marathon at Florida State University will start at 9:30 a.m. Saturday and continue into Sunday evening at the Civic Center. Hundreds of students have pledged to remain standing for 32 hours to raise money and awareness for the Children's Miracle Network at Shands Children's Hospital and FSU College of Medicine's Pediatric Outreach Program."

The wealthiest Americans have seen their average net worth nearly double since 1995, and many have poured substantial shares of that lucre into non-profit organizations -- in particular, their own newly created family foundations through which they can better control how their charitable dollars are spent."

The conference was in Little Rock last November, and officials say they'll hold another at the Clinton library Oct. 21-22.

'We have seen an increased interest in the Slate 60 in recent years, especially during the Slate 60 Conference we held last November, and an explosion in innovative philanthropy,' said Slate publisher Cliff Sloan."